Commission supports HFSP budget increase
The European Commission has hosted an intergovernmental conference to set out a new, three-year budgetary framework for the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), a global programme funding frontier research in the life sciences.
The conference announced a financial framework for the 2014-2016 period that represents a net increase from the current annual budget of $55.7m (~€41.7m), with most programme funders increasing yearly contributions by 2%, offsetting a budget contribution cut by Japan. It is hoped that the programme will maintain its support for innovative, cutting-edge and high-risk research, while promoting international collaboration in the spirit of science without borders.
Commenting on the announcement, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said: “The Human Frontier Science Program has been an inspiration and a model for frontier research funding schemes throughout the world, including our own European Research Council. Since its inception in 1989, HFSP has provided almost 6,500 awards to scientists giving them the opportunity to pursue cutting-edge research at all stages of their career.”
The HFSP is an international programme of research support implemented by the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization based in Strasbourg, France. According to its Statutes, “HFSP aims to promote, through international co-operation, basic research focused on the elucidation of the sophisticated and complex mechanisms of living organisms and to make the fullest possible utilisation of the research results for the benefit of all humankind”.
Originally launched as a G7 initiative in 1989, its membership has expanded to include the EU, Canada, India, Japan and the United States, amongst others.
